Showing papers in "Technical Communication Quarterly in 2015"
TL;DR: Johnny Saldana and his late coauthors accomplish at least two ambitious goals in Qualitative Data Analysis: A Methods Sourcebook and The Coding Manual for...
Abstract: Johnny Saldana and his late coauthors, Matthew B. Miles and A. Michael Huberman, accomplish at least two ambitious goals in Qualitative Data Analysis: A Methods Sourcebook and The Coding Manual for...
163 citations
TL;DR: This article presented fieldwork examples from an interdisciplinary technical communication/medical anthropology study in Rwanda, conveys challenges that the authors encountered during fieldwork and their efforts to turn the messy constraints of community-based research into openings.
Abstract: Community-based research in technical communication is well suited to supporting empowerment and developing contextualized understandings, but this research is messy. Presenting fieldwork examples from an interdisciplinary technical communication/medical anthropology study in Rwanda, this article conveys challenges that the authors encountered during fieldwork and their efforts to turn the messy constraints of community-based research into openings. Explicitly considering values and validity provided a strategy for our efforts to democratically share power, maximize rigor, and navigate uncertainty.
62 citations
TL;DR: The study assesses pharmaceutical sponsor presentations at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) drug advisory committee meetings and indicates the need for changes to FDA conflict-of-interest policies.
Abstract: This article pilots a study in statistical genre analysis, a mixed-method approach for (a) identifying conventional responses as a statistical distribution within a big data set and (b) assessing which deviations from the conventional might be more effective for changes in audience, purpose, or context. The study assesses pharmaceutical sponsor presentations at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) drug advisory committee meetings. Preliminary findings indicate the need for changes to FDA conflict-of-interest policies.
47 citations
TL;DR: The authors performed an interdisciplinary literature review of research on communication and climate change and proposed several applications for technical communication research, including using this review to contextualize local qualitative work, to spur interdisciplinary projects and address gaps in multidisciplinary literature, and reconsider a role for advocacy in technical communication.
Abstract: The authors performed an interdisciplinary literature review of research on communication and climate change. The authors reviewed STEM, social science, and risk analysis journals to synthesize recent publications on climate change communication which could support research in technical communication. Several applications are proposed for technical communication research, including using this review to contextualize local qualitative work, to spur interdisciplinary projects and address gaps in multidisciplinary literature, and reconsider a role for advocacy in technical communication.
41 citations
TL;DR: At the time of publication B. McNely was at The University of Kentucky, C. Spinuzzi was atthe University of Texas at Austin, and C. Teston was at the Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio.
Abstract: At the time of publication B. McNely was at The University of Kentucky, C. Spinuzzi was at The University of Texas at Austin, and C. Teston was at The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio.
41 citations
TL;DR: This article demonstrates, by example, 2 approaches to the analysis of knowledge work: a Latourian actor–network theory analysis and a network analysis.
Abstract: This article demonstrates, by example, 2 approaches to the analysis of knowledge work. Both methods draw on network as a framework: a Latourian actor–network theory analysis and a network analysis. The shared object of analysis is a digital humanities and digital media research lab that is the outcome of the collective and coordinated efforts of researchers and other stakeholders at North Carolina State University. The authors show how the two methods are drawn to different objects of study, different data sources, and different assumptions about how data can be reduced and made understandable. The authors conclude by arguing that although these methods yield different outlooks on the same object, their findings are mutually informing.
33 citations
TL;DR: A quantitative descriptive study of practices in four software forums in which help can be pursued in a network fashion that differs from traditional help documentation is described.
Abstract: People use software in service of complex tasks that are distributed over sprawling and idiosyncratically constructed technological and social networks. The aims and means of carrying out those tasks are not only complex but uncertain, which creates problems for providing help if the tasks, starting points, and endpoints cannot be assumed. Uncertain problems are characteristic of networks, and software forums stand out as effective public spaces in which help can be pursued in a network fashion that differs from traditional help documentation. This article describes the results of a quantitative descriptive study of such practices in four software forums.
20 citations
19 citations
TL;DR: For instance, the authors interviews with 14 technical communicators reveal that skills in rhetorical invention help them creatively address communication problems, and they define creativity in relation to four interrelated exigencies of invention: thinking like a user, reinvigorating dry content, inventing visual ideas, and alternating between heuristic and algorithmic processes.
Abstract: Interviews with 14 technical communicators reveal that skills in rhetorical invention help them creatively address communication problems. They define creativity in relation to four interrelated exigencies of invention: thinking like a user, reinvigorating dry content, inventing visual ideas, and alternating between heuristic and algorithmic processes. They recognize intrinsic factors such as curiosity and sympathy as motivations for their creativity, while being conscious of the external factors (people, money, and time) that may restrain creativity.
13 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors identify methods to investigate ambitious research objectives and discourse in social media and find Liza Potts' sociological work to be useful in this area, and propose a method to investigate the relationship between social media content and research objectives.
Abstract: Technical communicators and social media designers and researchers who seek to identify methods to investigate ambitious research objectives and discourse in social media will find Liza Potts' Soci...
11 citations
TL;DR: The authors provide a robust framework for using rhetorical foundations to teach multimodality in technical communication, describing a pedagogical approach wherein students consider the rhetorical canons—invention, arrangement, style, delivery, and memory—when developing texts beyond print.
Abstract: The authors provide a robust framework for using rhetorical foundations to teach multimodality in technical communication, describing a pedagogical approach wherein students consider the rhetorical canons—invention, arrangement, style, delivery, and memory—when developing texts beyond print. Students learn to assess their own work, reflecting on how each canon contributed to the rhetorical effectiveness of their multimodal projects. The authors argue for using the canons as a rhetorical foundation for helping students understand technical communication in the digital age.
TL;DR: In the context of forming and maintaining connections, the use of social media has become pervasive in today's society as discussed by the authors, and some use it to actively cultivate business relationships and follow or set in...
Abstract: In the context of forming and maintaining connections, the use of social media has become pervasive in today's society. Some use it to actively cultivate business relationships and follow or set in...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a study-abroad curriculum proposal for a professional writing program, which includes course assignments, readings, credit hours, and program destination and logistics.
Abstract: Technical communication programs preparing students to perform as symbolic analytic workers can improve a student's creative problem-solving abilities by offering study-abroad opportunities. Newer research from the field of psychology is used as a conceptual framework for discussing the author's development of curriculum for a study-abroad offering within a professional writing program. Details on the study-abroad curriculum proposal such as course assignments, readings, credit hours, and program destination and logistics are included.
TL;DR: A few years ago, Carolyn Rude (2009) mapped out the field of technical communication by formulating an overarching research question and four sub-topics as mentioned in this paper, including how do texts (pr...
Abstract: A few years ago, Carolyn Rude (2009) mapped out the field of technical communication by formulating an overarching research question and four subtopics. Rude's central question is “How do texts (pr...
TL;DR: The authors explores the history and stakes of the intelligence community's ongoing commitment to a problematic model of language use, and argues that the pursuit of a "mathematical" ideology of language is an attempt to render language "neutral" and to divorce rhetoric from ethics in ways that Burke anticipated, and with negative consequences for the generation of written intelligence reports and national policy decisions.
Abstract: Reading historical intelligence community documents primarily through the lens of Kenneth Burke's essay “Semantic and Poetic Meaning,” this article explores the history and stakes of the intelligence community's ongoing commitment to a problematic model of language use. The essay argues that the intelligence community's pursuit of a “mathematical” ideology of language is an attempt to render language “neutral” and to divorce rhetoric from ethics in ways that Burke anticipated, and with negative consequences for the generation of written intelligence reports and national policy decisions.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine the rhetoric employed by the Atomic Energy Commission and its successor, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, to communicate the risks of nuclear power to legislators and the public.
Abstract: This article examines the rhetoric employed by the Atomic Energy Commission and its successor, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, to communicate the risks of nuclear power to legislators and the public. Close reading of official and unofficial documents demonstrates the importance of developing an effective risk-communication strategy in anticipation of danger rather than in response.
TL;DR: In a scientific dispute over the effects of atrazine on amphibians, chemical industry-funded and publically funded scientists present stunningly contrasting constructions of Atrazine's environmental concentrations, persistence, and potential to harm as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: In a scientific dispute over the effects of atrazine on amphibians, chemical industry–funded and publically funded scientists present stunningly contrasting constructions of atrazine's environmental concentrations, persistence, and potential to harm. Considerable scientific uncertainties and variable ranges allow authors to construct preferred versions of the story of atrazine. These incommensurate rhetorical constructions, more the result of competing economic and environmental interests than of any paradigmatic misalignments, have prolonged the dispute not only over atrazine's effects but also over whether its sales should be banned.
TL;DR: The authors explored the role of categories as rhetorical barriers in organizations responding to crisis and found that unintended and perverse consequences (Giddens, 1984, 1987) reversed the power of a key legitimated category and exposed a set of reified categories.
Abstract: I explore the role of categories as rhetorical barriers in organizations responding to crisis (Veil, 2011). I analyze some problematic categories of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the categories’ impact on the organizations’ response to Hurricane Katrina. My analysis shows that unintended and perverse consequences (Giddens, 1984, 1987) reversed the power of a key legitimated category (Orlikowski, 1995; Giddens, 1984) and exposed a set of reified categories (Giddens, 1984).
TL;DR: In addition to using gender-sensitive revisions of occupational closure theory to explain the phenomenon of the woman organizer, the author chronicles the emergence of 8 professional associations for technical communicator and identifies the women technical communicators who helped to organize them.
Abstract: Women technical communicators helped to organize many of the first professional associations for technical communicators in the 1940s and 1950s. For some of these women, organizing was an occupational closure strategy of revolutionary usurpation: They may have hoped to position themselves favorably to shape a future profession that was not predicated on hidden forms of their inclusion. Exclusionary and demarcationary forces, however, seem to have ultimately undermined their efforts, alienating some of them and inducing others to adopt a strategy of inclusionary usurpation. In addition to using gender-sensitive revisions of occupational closure theory to explain the phenomenon of the woman organizer, the author chronicles the emergence of 8 professional associations for technical communicators and identifies the women technical communicators who helped to organize them.
TL;DR: In this article, the U.S. military's diagnostic practices used to identify mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) in blast-affected troops were analyzed, considering the notion of "wound/injury" as a possible boundary object.
Abstract: Following reports spanning from the beginning of the OEF (Operation Enduring Freedom) and OIF (Operation Iraqi Freedom) conflicts to the early 2010s, this rhetorical investigation analyzes the U.S. military's diagnostic practices used to identify mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) in blast-affected troops. Considering the notion of “wound/injury” as a possible boundary object, this paper discusses how the conceptual framing of “invisible” injuries may produce interruptions of distrust that inhibit effective diagnosis.
TL;DR: Solving Problems in Technical Communication as discussed by the authors follows up Johndan Johnson-Eilola and Stuart Selber's influential 2004 collection of previously published work, Central Works in technical communication.
Abstract: Solving Problems in Technical Communication follows up Johndan Johnson-Eilola and Stuart Selber's influential 2004 collection of previously published work, Central Works in Technical Communication